Point Taken
by ChristianGateFan
Summary: Jack and Daniel are uncomfortable around one another after the events of 'Shades of Grey.' Will a mission gone terribly, painfully wrong help or hinder their attempt to resolve their differences?
1. Chapter 1

Well, this story was accepted into a fanzine, so I couldn't post it for a whole year as part of the agreement and such. It's a completely ovehauled version of an old story that I think I had here a loooong time ago--which sucked then. But since it was taken for a zine, I _hope _it's better now, lol. Even if you read the original version, I hope you'll review to let me know. Here's chapter one. Can't wait to hear from ya'll! Thanks so much!

Point Taken

"Good luck, SG-1. You leave tomorrow morning at 0900. Dismissed."

"Thank you, sir," Jack O'Neill nodded absently, his full attention not on his commanding officer at the moment. General Hammond then closed his folder containing the preliminary M.A.L.P. information from P2X-297, signaling the end of the briefing, and stood to leave.

Once Hammond was gone Jack didn't move right away, but sat looking around the table at his team. Across from him Daniel and Teal'c were standing to go, and beside him Carter was about to before he discretely tugged on her sleeve. At his beckoning she leaned closer.

"Sir?" she asked quietly, seeming to sense his need to keep whatever he was going to say from the other two.

"What's up with Daniel?" Jack asked.

Carter sighed and glanced over at Daniel, who was making a beeline for the door–just like he had after every briefing, de-briefing or survey mission for the past week.

It had been that way ever since Jack had rejoined the team after supposedly "quitting", when in fact he was only taking part in an under-cover plot to expose a rogue faction of the NID that was stealing alien technology. He'd informed them all that he hadn't had a choice in not telling them about it; the Asgard had insisted he be the only one involved. All understood but Daniel still seemed to have a bit of a problem.

"I'm not sure, sir, but what happened did kind of shake us pretty bad. I can't say I blame him, but…"

"Crap," Jack winced, standing before Daniel could get out of sight and calling out to him. "Hey Daniel, wanna come over to my house later? Pizza and hockey?"

Daniel didn't turn, only raised a hand to wave the older man off. "I'm busy." And then he was out the door and gone.

"He really has been busy, sir; SG-4 brought back several artifacts from P8X-296 a few days ago," Carter said from beside him, her voice reassuring in tone. "Last I heard, he was having some trouble translating the inscriptions on them."

Jack sighed. "Yeah…right. Thanks Carter." _But that doesn't make me feel any better._

* * *

The next morning in the locker room when SG-1 was gathering their gear, Daniel tried to keep to himself, but was forced to look over at Sam when she came up beside him and refused to move. He sighed.

"What is it, Sam?"

She pointedly watched Jack go before turning to him again. "Daniel, when are you going to give him a break?"

Daniel blinked once or twice before registering what she meant. Then he sighed again. "Sam, do we have to talk about this now?"

"He was doing his duty, Daniel. He didn't have a choice."

"Yes, he did. That was way too dangerous for him to just…just take on on his own. He wasn't _ordered _to do it, was he? He could have chosen not to. Or he could have at least left us a note or something before stepping through that gate leaving us thinking we'd never see him again…Did he even think about what would have happened if he'd never come back? We would still think he betrayed us. I would still think…" But he trailed off there and lowered his eyes. _I would still think Jack had never thought of me as a friend. I would still think we'd never had the trust I thought we did…_

"What?" Sam asked, concern in her voice now.

"Never mind."

"He didn't like it any more than we did."

Daniel looked away. "I know…Look, Sam, I can't just go back to normal like it never happened. I just…I need more time to sort this out, okay?"

Sam sighed. "All right. But you really should talk to him; the sooner the better." And with that line of advice, she left, with Teal'c trailing behind her.

* * *

"Where's Daniel?" Jack asked when he turned to see Carter and Teal'c stride into the gate room.

"He's coming, sir," Carter informed him. "And sir…"

"What?"

"Colonel…you really should talk to him."

Jack crossed his arms. "He doesn't want to talk to me, Carter. We've been through this–numerous times." Though she was right, of course. He still wasn't even sure exactly what was still eating at Daniel.

"With all due respect, sir, neither of you is ever going to say anything meaningful to one another again if one of you doesn't start it. If you're both waiting for the other, it won't happen."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

"Since when did you become an expert on complicated friendships?" Jack retorted, even though he agreed with them.

"Since we met you and Daniel, sir."

_Ouch. Okay, that one hit home._

It was obvious that Carter read him, and saw that she was about to pounce on it. Jack opened his own mouth to ward her off when the door behind them opened again to admit the team's fourth. The Stargate burst open as well.

"'Morning, Daniel. Nice of you to join us." Not quite the warm welcome Jack felt he should have given, but falling back on sarcasm had always been his defense mechanism.

When Daniel looked at him but said nothing, Jack shrugged. "Okay. Let's move out," he said, before heading toward the 'Gate. Carter and Teal'c followed, with Daniel trailing behind them in back. Jack sighed to himself before stepping through the event horizon. _Carter's right, Daniel. I'm going to do something about it, too. _

* * *

The Stargate on P2X-297 stood on a grassy shelf in the side of a small tree-covered mountain, and the M.A.L.P. hadn't been able to tilt down to look below. All it had seen was similar mountains in the distance and to either side, and what appeared to be a good-sized valley in between them. Therefore, Daniel was the first to point out the primitive village that sat back from base of the mountain a little less than a mile away. Small mud-brick, thatched-roof houses spread out in rows from a central square, like the spokes of a wagon wheel, and one much larger building sat near the edge of the square. It wasn't unlike many villages they'd encountered in the past.

"Sweet," Jack said, looking down. "Okay, Daniel, you're with me; we'll start down. Teal'c, stay here with Carter for a few minutes and help her get her stuff set up so she can get her mineral or soil samples or whatever she wants later, then come down and meets us before we go into the village."

Daniel didn't complain. Most of the past week or so when SG-1 had needed to split up Jack had him with Sam, and he'd been grateful for it. But now Jack was changing tactics, and even though Daniel wasn't sure why, he didn't protest. He knew that once Jack O'Neill made up his mind, he wasn't changing it unless he had a darn good reason, and one member of his team being uncomfortable about something probably wasn't one.

Sam had bent over her pack which she had set on the ground, searching for her sampling equipment, but looked up on hearing Jack's announcement. Her eyes locked with Daniel's, and her expression reminded him of everything she'd said in the locker room. He sighed inwardly.

* * *

"So, Daniel, think we'll be able to talk to these people?" Jack asked, trying to make conversation as he and Daniel carefully made their way down the steep incline.

Daniel answered from behind him. "I don't know. We're not there yet. I don't know if they speak English or not, and if they don't it depends on what they do speak."

"Ah. Right. I knew that."

Another few moments of walking and uncomfortable silence later, Jack spoke again. "So…Carter seems to think we need to…talk."

"Later, Jack…"

Jack stopped abruptly and turned, almost making the younger man collide with him. As it was Daniel had to take hold of the nearest tree for a moment to keep himself from toppling down the incline. "Daniel, there is no _later_. You've been too busy back at the base to spare me a moment. Why do you think we started down ahead of them?"

Daniel stared at him for a moment, mouth slightly open. Finally he sputtered out a response. "But…I…I forgave you. I get it…"

"Then why are you still being so elusive? Yes, I apologized, the three of you understood, forgave me…I thought that was it, but apparently not." Daniel's habit of keeping things locked away and not talking about them could get annoying at times. Well, this time it was about to end right here, right now.

Daniel's lips pressed into a thin line. So much had gone wrong in his life in the past several months. He'd lost his wife, Jack had been missing for three months, trapped on a planet with a buried Stargate, and now this misunderstanding, and in that moment every bit of it showed on his face.

When he spoke again it was quietly. "We don't have time for this now, Jack."

Jack sighed. "I didn't think so. Be that way then." Now aggravated, he turned on his heel and continued down the hill, leaving Daniel to follow. He'd tried. He'd done what Carter had suggested; he'd tried to straighten out what was wrong, but as usual Daniel wouldn't talk. He should have known.

A minute or so later Jack caught sight of a small branch on a tree ahead, in his way. Not refraining from being his snarky self, instead of ducking it or swerving around it, he pushed it out of his way and then let it snap back toward the unwary scientist behind him. He didn't bother to glance back, suddenly too annoyed to care.

When he heard a pained shout and a thump behind him, however, his perspective suddenly changed.

Jack barely had time to turn before Daniel toppled into his legs, knocking him down and sending them both rolling painfully down the steep incline. His arm banged painfully into a tree on the way down, but thankfully he remained relatively uninjured until they came tumbling to a stop in a tangle of arms and legs at the bottom of the hill.

_Okay, so maybe that wasn't such a good idea._

Jack pulled himself away from Daniel and then, on his knees, turned back to his friend. "Daniel, you okay?" The only answer he got was a moan.

Daniel was still on the ground, with one hand clamped cautiously to the side of his neck. Jack sucked in a breath and scooted closer, a pang of worry tightening his chest. He reached out and gently shook Daniel's arm. "Daniel, you with me? Come on buddy, talk to me."

Daniel's eyes flickered opened and he sat up tentatively, grimacing. He let his hand drop, and that was when Jack saw the small white thorns protruding from the side of his neck. He started to bring his hand back where it had been but Jack caught his wrist.

"Oh no you don't. Let me take a look at that."

Daniel sighed and sat silently while the colonel examined him. Three of the short, thin, hollow white thorns had been imbedded in the side of his neck, thankfully missing anything important. There was only a bit of blood at the points of entry; nothing to alarmed about.

Jack still winced for him, however. "Yikes, where did those come from?"

Daniel frowned. "Those, Jack, came from the tree branch you so graciously sent flying into my face."

_Uh oh._ O'Neill grimaced again. "Crap, I'm sorry, Daniel. That was pretty stupid of me…"

Daniel answered by rolling his eyes. He quickly stopped and winced, however, leaving Jack curious.

"You okay?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine."

Jack shrugged. Still mentally kicking himself, he unclipped his pack from his back and swung it to the ground, then opened it and commenced searching for his first aid kit. After digging it out he pushed the backpack out of his way and set the medical kit beside him.

"Okay, just sit still and I'll see what I can do about this. Granted, I'm not as good as Fraiser–or Carter even, for that matter–but you're stuck with me right now."

Daniel only nodded, and waited while Jack reached up to pull the first thorn out. "Yow! Jack, that hurts!" he yelped.

"Sorry! I'm doin' the best I can here, Daniel," Jack replied, setting the thorn down.

"Sorry–ow!"

It was then that they heard heavy, hurried footsteps coming from above them, and glanced up to see Carter and Teal'c slip-sliding down the slope toward them.

"Sir!" Carter called. "We heard something. What happened; are you two all right?"

Jack winced to himself and flexed his sore left hand, the one that had hit the tree on the way down. "We're fine, Carter, just took a little tumble down the hill. Daniel picked up a couple of weird thorns though."

The major stumbled to a stop beside them, and Teal'c barely had time to stop to avoid bowling over her.

"Thorns, sir?" Carter asked, kneeling down beside him to get a closer look at Daniel's neck. She frowned a bit when she saw the two small holes where two of them had been, and the one obtrusive piece of plant that still remained. "Ouch…that had to hurt."

"No, not that much, really."

Teal'c went over beside Carter. "Are you all right, Daniel Jackson?"

"Yeah, Teal'c, I'm fi–ow! Jack, do you have to pull them out while I'm trying to talk?"

Jack shrugged and picked up a sealed cleansing wipe, tore open the package and swiped it carefully over the wounds a few times, which was all that was needed. When he was done with that, he wasn't quite sure what to do, and it seemed that Carter noticed; she stepped in and put just a small bandage over the closely-grouped wounds.

"Thanks, Sam," Daniel said as he stood a moment later.

"You're welcome."

"Hey, what about me?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, thank you. Can we move on now?"

"Hold on, Daniel," Carter said. "Where did those thorns come from?"

"A tree branch."

"You sure?"

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, positive; why?"

Carter sighed and shook her head. "Never mind. If they're from a tree and not a low-growing plant then you should be fine." Curiously she took one of the thorns from Jack and looked at it. "Yeah…no dirt, really. That considerably lowers the risk of infection…"

"Infection? Sam, they barely went in a quarter of an inch; I'm fine."

She nodded. "You should be, yes, but just be careful, all right?"

Confused, Jack interrupted. "Right, okay…so you're saying he'll be fine; we can go on, or no?"

Carter nodded. "I think we can go on, sir, unless Daniel _wants _to go back to the SGC…"

"Uh, no thank you," Daniel said quickly. Carter just smiled at him knowingly.

"But it's the colonel's decision, Daniel."

Jack sighed. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don't have a problem with going on as long as Daniel feels all right. You do, don't you?"

"Yes, Jack, I'm fine…"

"All right then….Carter, you and Teal'c done up there?"

Teal'c nodded. "We are indeed."

"Good. I guess we go on then."

At that, Daniel immediately swiveled in the direction of the village and started walking again. A few seconds later Jack shook his head, hauled his pack onto his back again and followed, Carter and Teal'c behind him.

* * *

No sooner had SG-1 established contact with the natives, and the villagers had understood what Daniel was, than he had gratefully left with a couple of the younger men to see the ruins that lay about half a mile outside the village. He left Jack to make friends with the village patriarch, Nasik.

Sam had gone off with a few more of the men, she having expressed interest in the plant life in the woods around the village. Some of it was rather odd, after all, such as those thorn trees….Not that he was interested himself. He'd had his encounter with one of those trees, deemed it unpleasant, and filed it away. Let Sam have her fun with her plants; Jack had sent Teal'c with her, too, so there was no reason to worry about any of that. The people of the village at the bottom of the hill on P2X-297 were friendly, and thankfully not too fearful of the visitors from afar. Also they did, in fact, speak English, which was what had enabled the team to separate in order to cover more ground.

Now, as Daniel picked his way through the long-abandoned, half-destroyed city in which he was in his element, he let the wall of resistance he had put up against Jack the past several days weaken long enough to silently thank him for not trying to insist that they stay together or keeping him from coming here. It was all fascinating. It was the ruins of an Ancient city, which made sense as it was one of the 'Gate addresses Jack had put into the SGC's computer when the knowledge from the Ancients' repository had been stuffed into his brain almost a year before.

The only downside to all of this, Daniel thought wryly, was that he had a headache, making it hard to work. It had begun just after his trip down the side of the hill, and had persisted and worsened since then. He'd tried searching out the Tylenol from his pack, but so far it hadn't helped. Now his neck was stiff and hurt too, particularly on the left side where the thorns had pierced his flesh. Turning his head was becoming increasingly difficult, as it caused the pain to spike. For some reason, it also seemed as if moving his shoulders was more painful, too…

But no, that couldn't be. It only seemed that way because of the headache. It would go away in a few hours, and he would be fine.

* * *

Sam took another deep breath of fresh air, grateful she wasn't stuck back in the village doing nothing but talking. She would much rather be out here, and so far the villagers escorting her and Teal'c through their lands had proven to be more than sufficient guides. Already they had seen and taken samples from several types of plants that had no direct parallel on earth. There was the short red cactus-like plant, and the taller trees with the sticky vines…and then there were the trees with small white thorns in them, but they had yet to encounter any more of them.

Perhaps they only grew on inclines or needed a bit higher altitude, like the almost-mountain SG-1 had almost-tumbled down to get to the village. The entire town was in a large valley, several miles across. Now their little party was coming to one of the sides, and the leader of the group slowed.

"We will not go much farther," he announced. "When we reach the base of the incline we will turn back."

"Why?" Sam asked curiously.

"Is there not anything of interest in the mountains?" Teal'c added.

The man turned to them and shook his head. "No, there is not. We do not go there; we stay in the valley."

Sam nodded. "Oh, well, if that's all you have to show us…"

"It is," he assured her, starting a wide turn back toward the village.

"Thank you for bringing us out here. I've got some really interesting samples already that I'm sure the scientists on my world will appreciate."

"You are most welcome. The gods have seen you fit to come here, so we are happy to oblige you and offer our friendship," their guide answered. Then, smiling, he turned ahead once more to lead them toward the village.

Sam blinked. "Uh…yeah. Thanks." She glanced at Teal'c in confusion as they walked, and spoke softly. "Have you seen any evidence that there was once a Goa'uld here?"

Teal'c frowned. "I have not; perhaps they have their own gods."

"Yeah, I guess so…" She was about to make another comment, but trailed off when her attention was diverted by a bush-skirted tree nearby. "Hey, Teal'c, don't the thorns on that tree look like the ones Daniel ran into?" she asked, pointing to it.

"Indeed they do."

"Okay, tell Kesen to hold up a minute; I want some fresh samples of those."

Teal'c nodded. "I will."

"Thanks." Without any more hesitation Sam broke away from the group and headed for the thorn tree a few yards away. Behind her she heard Teal'c call to Kesen.

"What are you doing, Major Carter?" Kesen inquired. There was a note of something more urgent than curiosity in his voice that Sam couldn't quite put a finger on.

"I'd like to get some samples from this tree over here; do you mind?" she asked, glancing at him.

"Uhm, well, I…"

Sam started trying to push her way through the bushes around the base of the tree, but they proved too dense and she didn't have a machete. "Hey, Teal'c, Kesen, could you give me a hand over here? Anybody have a brush knife?"

"You should not--I mean, I do not have one…" Kesen answered, backing away. "Please, Major Carter; Nasik instructed us to have you back before the sun set. We must go now."

"Yeah, fine. We can go in a minute, just help me get to this tree first. It'll only take a minute." Teal'c had come over to her now and was pushing at the bushes to move enough of them out of her way so she could pass, but it was obvious he was going to need more help with the heavy brush.

Kesen, however, didn't seem willing. The other villagers didn't either. All of them were steadily moving away from them and the tree.

"Kesen is right; we should go back now," one of them said.

Sam sighed in frustration and looked back at them again, a red light going off in her mind. "Please? I just need a little help here; I'm not asking much"

"We cannot," Kesen answered in a nervous voice. "Come, Major Carter. We must return to the village…"

Sam exchanged a helpless glance with Teal'c, who raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to come. Sighing again, she made her way back with him to the villagers and they continued on.

"What was that about?" she complained.

"I am not sure," Teal'c answered, frowning.

"Well, I'm not either, but I do know that I don't like this."

"Perhaps he was merely showing concern for your safety," Teal'c suggested.

Sam frowned. "Would he really have been so insistent if he was only worried I might stick myself, though? I mean, he looked a lot more scared for himself than he did concerned for me. There has to be something else. Something fishy's going on here…"

There went the eyebrow again. "I have not observed any fish in the vicinity, Major Carter."

"What? No. Never mind…"


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews! Just a warning again, some of this was changed a lot, and some wasn't, but just keep reading. I'll look forward to hearing from you all. Thanks again!

Chapter 2

Daniel had set his pack on the ground hours ago as he searched through the ruins, and now he grimaced as he bent to retrieve a different notebook, pain shooting down his back. Almost immediately he straightened again and sat down on the rock beside his pack to dig through it.

Okay, no bending over.

"Daniel? Are you all right?" one of the men with him asked.

Pulling what he was looking for out of his bag, Daniel looked up at the man, his name escaping him at the moment for the jumble of Ancient words running through his mind. He squinted when the quick movement only hurt more.

"Oh. Yeah, I'm fine, thanks."

Seeming to not realize that Daniel's narrowed eyes were betraying pain, the young man only shrugged. "Oh…so, what do you think of our ruins?"

At first there had only been two escorts here with Daniel, but the enthusiasm with which he had followed them here and begun his exploration had soon drawn more of the young men and women of the village to the site, obviously sparking new interest in the crumbled structures that had been part of their homeland for as long as any of them could remember. All of them peppered him with questions, wanting to know whatever he could tell them about the writings they had never been able to decipher before. It had been years since Daniel had taught in any capacity beyond giving explanations of alien artifacts to Jack's deaf ears, and he was beginning to remember why he had enjoyed it so much.

Daniel glanced around again and smiled. "They're fascinating. I could stay here for quite awhile, but my friends will want to leave in another few hours."

His companion seemed disappointed. "Will you be back?"

"Of course," Daniel assured him. "Believe me; we won't just leave a find like this," he said, gesturing broadly to the broken city around them. Or he knew he wouldn't let the powers that be leave it alone, anyway, not if he had anything to say about it. If whatever was going on with him persisted, though, what he could say might end up being very physically limited.

He stood again, but jerked when a rock falling from the wall behind him made him jump. He moved his sore neck quickly, which didn't feel so great, and then a sudden muscle spasm in his upper left arm sent him reeling back a couple of steps. He gave a startled gasp, gripping the arm until the spasm stopped.

When he opened his eyes again the young man beside him was frowning, looking at him strangely. Daniel swallowed hard and quickly turned and walked away, notebook and pen in hand, body from the shoulders up throbbing dully in pain.

What the heck was wrong with him?

* * *

A short distance from the village and near the base of the mountain where SG-1 had come down from the Stargate, Sam called for their group to stop again.

"Thanks, Kesen, but we have some things back at the uh….the ring, that we need to get. You can go on back to the village; we know our way there and back from here."

Kesen nodded. "Very well. It was a pleasure to guide you. We will see you back in the village soon?"

"Uhm, yeah; we'll be back down soon. Thanks."

The other men nodded goodbyes and went on their way as Sam and Teal'c turned back to the mountains.

"What is it that you wish to retrieve at the Stargate?" Teal'c asked.

Sam sighed. "Nothing, Teal'c. We don't have to go back to the 'Gate, but I know there has to be at least one of those thorn trees between here and there."

"You wish to examine it?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I do. I have the feeling there's something going on, and I want to know what it is."

* * *

Daniel groaned and sank to his knees in front of the wall he was attempting to translate. He'd been trying to get as much work done as possible on the inscriptions, before Jack dragged him back to Earth where all he would have left to work with were rubbings and pictures, but the task had become increasingly difficult as the hours passed. Sighing heavily, he pulled his glasses off, setting them on top of the open notebook on the ground in front of him before reaching up again and pinching the bridge of his nose.

Not that he would be able to make much sense of what he'd written later, anyway. The pages he'd filled in the notebook in the most recent hours were marred by scribbles, ruined letters, and dark lines, resulting from the jerk the book and pencil got when painful muscle spasms gripped one of his arms. At first it had been only the left, but now the right did it just as often, and it seemed that every muscle in both limbs was sore. Daniel groaned and let his hand drop from his face when he couldn't hold it up anymore. On top of that, the muscles of his abdomen were aching as well.

Daniel had tried everything he could find in his first aid kit that seemed safe to take and was any type of pain medication. There wasn't much of it, but it didn't matter because it wasn't helping.

The only thing left in his pack that might do him any good was the morphine, but he wasn't about to use that when he was trying to work; it would prevent him from doing so. Besides, he didn't think Jack would appreciate having to search through the maze of ruins to find a temporarily loopy archaeologist. Not to mention he'd done enough of the loopy thing in the past year already…Machello's Goa'uld killing, human-schizophrenic-making device, the whole Urgo thing…yeah, he really didn't feel like being any semblance of crazy again for a while yet. He just had to keep going for a couple more hours. Then it would be getting late, and if Jack didn't come looking for him first he'd go back to the village, and they would all go back to earth. Then he could ask Janet about it.

After resting for several minutes, Daniel sighed in frustration and pulled himself back to his feet with his hands against the wall. Unfortunately, that made him realize that his legs were starting to respond sluggishly as well. Darn it, when had his entire body started feeling sore?

_Maybe something really is wrong with me…No, ya think?_

Shaking his head to clear it, Daniel finally decided that it was definitely a problem that needed to be addressed. He was going to head back for the village immediately when he realized that he'd left his glasses, notebook, and pen on the ground. He groaned. He still couldn't bend over, and there were no convenient nearby rocks to sit on. He'd have to go all the way down again to get them.

As soon as Daniel had lowered himself to the ground, retrieved his things and started to straighten again, though, a sudden muscle spasm in his middle sent him toppling back to the ground with a shout of surprise and pain. He curled in on himself, clenching his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut as the muscles in both of his arms joined in. A moment later he was left sprawled on his side next to the ancient wall, gulping for air once the pain had ceased.

_Okay, now I _know_ something's seriously wrong. _

* * *

To Sam's relief, it didn't take long to track down one of the thorn trees. They were scattered over the area between the base of the mountain and the shelf where the 'Gate sat. She quickly led Teal'c to the nearest one and carefully pulled a small branch toward her to have a better look at it.

"Huh," she said, plucking off one of the small, white thorns. "These look different somehow…"

"Different from what?"

"From the ones the colonel pulled out of Daniel's neck," Sam answered. Frowning as her unease began to grow, she pulled out the sample bag she'd placed a couple of the thorns from Daniel in, and compared those with the fresh one she'd pulled from the tree. After a moment, she gasped softly.

"What is it?" Teal'c asked. He frowned as well, obviously sensing the anxiety that Sam suddenly felt.

"Teal'c…the thorns on the tree have some kind of liquid in them; the ones that were pulled out of Daniel's neck don't."

His frown deepened. "Are you saying the liquid could possibly have been injected into Daniel Jackson's body when he was pierced by the thorns?"

Sam nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying." Quickly she put the thorns from Daniel back in their sample bag and pulled out another. She picked a few more fresh thorns and put them in the new bag, then sealed both. "Come on; we have to get all of this through the 'Gate ASAP. I want Janet to take a look at this liquid…"

Teal'c nodded gravely. "And I will contact O'Neill."

Sam stopped and stared at him for a moment before what he'd said had clicked in her brain. "Right. Yes, we need to contact the colonel and tell him what we found, good. He'll probably want to bring Daniel back. I'll do it, thanks." Then she started up the incline again with Teal'c on her heels, and keyed her radio.

* * *

The fifty-cent tour of the village had barely been worth twenty-five, as there wasn't a whole lot to see. Even though the patriarch Nasik had been exuberantly proud of his village and lingered in each significant place for several minutes, it still hadn't taken more than an hour or so. Since then, Jack had been wandering aimlessly through the few lazy, wide streets of what could barely be called a town, waiting for Carter and Teal'c to return from their forage through the woods. There was no chance of Daniel coming back on his own; he, Carter and Teal'c would have to go get him once those two returned. Jack planned on heading back to the Stargate once they did.

Jack strolled back through the center circle of the village again, where the Main Hall stood. The only building that was any good size larger than the others, it seemed to serve as both a central gathering place for the villagers and some sort of town hall. At least, that was what he'd gathered from what Nasik had told him, anyway.

Surrounding the rest of the courtyard-like space were other smaller community buildings, such as crop and weapons storage, and beyond these along the wide streets that spread from the center of the village were the family dwellings. There wasn't much in the central yard itself but a stone well and one other structure. It was off the one side near the Main Hall and consisted only of two thick, upright wooden poles about ten feet high, and another tied across the top between them. Jack wasn't quite sure yet what it was used for.

His radio squawked, Carter's strained voice issuing from the speaker.

"Colonel?"

Jack reached up and keyed the mic. "O'Neill here. What's up, Carter?"

"Sir, Kesen and the other men have headed back to the village, but Teal'c and I went toward the Stargate. We found one of those trees, the ones with the thorns, and sir…there's more to them than I thought."

_Oh perfect. Now what?_ O'Neill thought, swallowing. "What's that supposed to mean, major? Could you elaborate?"

* * *

Daniel blinked through blurred vision, and after a few more seconds could discern that the fuzzy dark globs floating above him were people–the young man he had been talking to before and several of the others. A couple of them pulled him upright, and he gratefully leaned back against the cracked remains of the building.

"Thanks," he gulped, but a few seconds later his thankfulness wavered when he realized that the faces around him didn't look entirely friendly. _Huh?_

"You are in pain," one of them said; it was a statement, not a question. It wasn't the eager young man from before, but another larger and more threatening man.

Daniel squinted. "Yeah…do you guys think you could help me get back to the village? I'm kind of at a disadvantage right now…"

But the man interrupted Daniel with a question of his own, as he pointed to the bandage on the left side of his neck. "What happened there?"

"On the way here, I had a run-in with a tree that didn't like me, got a couple thorns stuck there…why? What's going on?"

The man visibly stiffened. "You were pierced by the Wrath of the Gods?"

Daniel blinked, desperately trying to understand what was happening and what he meant. "What…? No. It was just a tree."

"The thorns of the trees surrounding the village contain the curse, the Wrath Of The Gods. Anyone who the gods truly wish us to associate with are allowed to pass through the forest unharmed, but those they wish to warn us of are enemies…" The man trailed off and glared down at Daniel, and suddenly the entire group seemed not only quite unfriendly, but downright hostile.

Daniel would have shaken his head if he hadn't known it would hurt. "No, no," he answered as quickly as he could. "It was just accident. We are friends…"

"Maybe the others are, but the gods have cursed you." The man's fists clenched. "We did hope that you could teach us much about these ruins, but the gods find fault in you; you are cursed and have infiltrated our village and this place. You must be punished–for two sun cycles, and when the curse has run its course you must leave and never return."

Two sun cycles? Two days. By Daniel's watch, only about a fifth or so of that had passed since he'd been pierced by those thorns. Forty more hours of this? Not his idea of fun, but at the moment he had bigger problems to worry about, like the natives, the friendly villagers, turned angry mob.

As the man before him finished speaking, two more reached down, took rough hold of his arms and hauled him to his feet, tearing unbidden groans from his throat as his aching body protested.

Gasping for air through the haze of pain, Daniel swallowed hard and tried to talk to them. "No…you don't understand. This…this is all just a misunderstanding, a mistake…it was just a tree…"

Maybe everyone in the crowd around him was at least several years younger than him, but many of them were bigger, and with their numbers he had no chance of escaping whatever they had in mind for him. His only chance was if he could convince them to back off or they decided to do so of their own accord.

"You…you don't have to do this…" he protested weakly. _Whatever it is you're going to do…_

Daniel started to say something else, but a sharp blow to his face sent his head snapping back, and he cried out as pain shot not only through his face, but through his stiff neck and down his spine.

"Silence!"

* * *

"Crap," Jack winced, once he'd heard what Carter had to say. "Okay, Daniel's still out in the ruins, but I'll go get him. We'll be back ASAP. O'Neill out."

With that, Jack released the radio and took off his cap, running his other hand through his hair in frustration as his stomach knotted in concern for his friend. "Daniel, why are you always the one who gets into trouble?" But he also knew that this time it was mostly his fault, and darn it, if Daniel had to suffer because of his stupidity…

Sighing heavily, Jack turned to head quickly back to the Main Hall to find Nasik. He found him where he'd thought he would be, standing outside the doors of the Main Hall settling some type of petty dispute. As he approached, Nasik seemed to reach an agreement with the two men and they left, leaving him free to help Jack. He man turned to see Jack coming in his direction and smiled.

"Ah, Colonel O'Neill! How may I help you?"

Jack came to stop in front of the other man and sighed. "Uh, yeah, could somebody show me where all those rocks are? I need to find Daniel. Something…came up at home, and…we need to get back to the Stargate."

"The Ring Of The Gods?"

"Yeah, ring of the gods, Stargate, whatever. Which way to the rocks?"

"I assume you mean the ruins your friend was shown to." When Jack nodded he continued. "Yes, well, I am busy here, of course, but I will be happy to have one of my aids escort you there, help you find your friend. You say you are leaving? May I ask if you will return? We have been honored by your company. It is always a great enjoyment to meet strangers…as long as they are not our enemies."

That perked his ears. "Enemies?"

"Yes. At times there are visitors who come from other, far away villages, or through the Ring Of The Gods, who our gods do not like. Anyone that the gods frown upon is our enemy. We only associate with those the gods condone."

Jack blinked, a little weirded out. "Okay…and just how do you know who they do and don't like?" he asked curiously, though unease was beginning to creep into the back of his mind.

"Oh, that is not difficult. The gods curse whomever they deem our enemies, and we punish them for infiltrating our village until the curse wears off and then send them away." Nasik said proudly.

"Yeah…and how do you know if someone is cursed?"

"By the thorns in the trees that protect our village," Nasik said simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Jack froze.

"Those the gods wish for us to make friends with come through the forest without harm, but those that do not pass through the trees without being pierced by the Wrath Of The Gods…" he trailed off and shrugged.

A chill ran down Jack's spine, and suddenly his mouth felt dry. _Oh boy…_But before he could pose further questions, one of the young men that had led Daniel to the ruins came running up to Nasik. He excused himself and drew the new arrival off to the side as the other man began speaking in angry, rapid sentences. Jack couldn't hear what was being said, but whatever it was seemed to make Nasik angry as well.

When the other man ran off Nasik turned to Jack again, and he didn't look the least bit happy.

"Problem?" Jack asked nonchalantly, covering his sudden worry.

Nasik scowled. "Yes. It seems that there is indeed quite a problem."

"And that would be…?"

"The one that was with you has been hiding the fact he is cursed. I'm sorry, Colonel O'Neill, but you must not know him as well as you thought you did if he does not find favor with our gods even though you do."

_Oh crap; they found out._ But how would they have known? Oh, this was just…great.

"Ah…okay, what does that mean?" Jack asked, fighting to remain calm.

The man almost looked sad. "He will be punished and made to leave as soon as the curse has run its course. You may return, O'Neill, but he cannot. He is our enemy." With that Nasik's angry frown returned. "And we cannot allow the cursed to contaminate our village."

"Whoa…hold your horses. It's a _plant_, Nasik. Daniel's not _cursed_ or whatever, and he isn't your enemy. He's just as nice as I am–heck he's a lot _nicer_ than I am. He's not going to contaminate anything. And just what in the world would he need to be punished for?"

"For hiding from us that he was cursed, for trying to go against the will of the gods."

Jack shook his head. "No…look, let's just forget about this. I'll go get Daniel, and we'll leave, okay? And if you don't want Daniel to come back, fine, whatever. Just leave him alone."

Nasik shook his head in return. "I cannot go against the will of the gods, O'Neill. I must follow their guidelines in this matter. I cannot allow you to take him back to your world until he has been rightfully punished."

Jack gulped. "And just what would this entail?"

"The curse takes two sun cycles to run its course. The punishment will last until it is over."

Jack's hands went to his gun and rested there. "No. I don't think so." The fact that Nasik hadn't yet told him what the punishment was didn't help him feel any better either.

"You do not have a choice, O'Neill."

"You wanna bet?" Jack retorted angrily, walking off to search for his friend. Before he could get farther than two steps, however, Nasik whistled loudly, and two rather large men appeared at Jack's side. They took hold of his arms and held tightly, which prevented him from getting to his P-90.

"Hey!" he yelped, pulling on his human restraints. "What are you doing!"

Nasik approached him again. "If you are going to disturb the proceedings, O'Neill, then I will be forced to make sure that you cannot."

"Do whatever you want, Nasik. I'm not going to let you do anything to Daniel."

Nasik nodded as if he had expected the answer. "Very well." He nodded to the two men holding Jack. "Lock him in the Main Hall until the others return to the village with the cursed one."

Jack struggled as the men dragged him through the large building to a back room where a few even smaller "rooms" lined the walls. It wasn't hard to figure out what they were used for. The men pushed him into one of the cells, then closed and locked the wooden door. Growling in frustration as the men left, and hoping that Daniel was all right at least for the moment, Jack reached up and keyed his radio. Thank goodness the villagers hadn't yet figured out the significance of their radios and weapons yet.

"Carter, come in."

"Sir?" Carter's voice replied seconds later. "Is there a problem? Where are you and Daniel, sir?"

"See, that's the problem. I don't know where Daniel is, and I'm locked in a cell."

"What?!" Carter yelped. "Colonel, what happened?"

"Well, apparently these people are under the impression the thorns on those trees in the woods are some kind of curse put by their gods on people they don't like or something…and they think Daniel tried intentionally to hide the fact he was _cursed_ or whatever from them, and now they want to do…do something. I'm not sure how they found out what happened to him, though. He was still out at the ruins. Nasik says they're bringing him back now to undergo some kind of punishment…"

"Oh boy–"

"Yeah. Bottom line, Carter, get down here."

He could almost hear her nodding vigorously. "Yes sir. We'll be there as soon as we can."

The radio fell silent then, and Jack leaned back against one of the walls. _Now what?_

Looking around the empty cell, it was obvious there was only answer: wait. Jack didn't have to wait terribly long though, before he heard someone coming, and he looked up expectantly as the cell door opened. Two men made their way into the cell, grabbing his arms and pulling him from the Main Hall. Outside in the central courtyard a crowd was gathering, consisting of villagers coming from their houses and more from a large group just entering the village, presumably from the ruins. The "guards" held O'Neill in the open double doorway of the Main Hall near Nasik, who stood solemnly still, waiting.

The crowd drew closer to the doors, until there was only several feet of space between the front of the mass and the building, Nasik, and Jack. Seconds later a battered Daniel Jackson was shoved into the space. He cried out in pain and dropped to his knees. Jack winced as he looked his friend over, assessing his condition.

Daniel's hands were bound in front of him, his head lowered as he gasped for air through what seemed to be a good deal of pain. Jack couldn't tell where it was coming from though. He did look a little the worse for wear outwardly–he had a few bruises on his face and appeared to have been a bit roughed up–but not nearly enough to be hurting that much. What was the stuff from those thorns doing to him? That had to be it…

"What did they do to him?" Jack asked angrily. Some of that was obvious, and the question was more a formality than anything, but he hoped Daniel would pick up on the underlying pressing concern in the question, and would understand that despite the argument from earlier in the day he still cared just as much as he ever had.

As it was, it made no difference because Nasik ignored him, and took a step forward. He nodded to one of the men at the edge of the crowd, who then came up behind Daniel and roughly grabbed a handful of his hair and forced him to look up at Nasik. This brought a pained cry, and Jack's jaw clenched along with Daniel's.

Then Nasik began to speak. "Cursed one. The gods have found fault with you, and thus we are obligated to obey their wishes. You will be punished for your deception, and whatever it is that has brought the curse upon you."

Daniel protested weakly. "It was just a tree; just thorns. It's not a cur-AH!"

He was cut off when another of the men kicked him viciously in the stomach, doubling him over and making the one behind him lose his grip on Daniel's hair. He remained doubled over, moaning. Without waiting for him to recover the man behind him pulled him upright again, bringing another cry.

"Hey, easy!" Jack quipped hotly.

Nasik only glared at him before turning to the crowd again. "Tie him up," he ordered simply.

Tie him up? His hands were already tied. What…? Oh. Oh no.

* * *

Daniel couldn't move. Everything hurt. Being dragged and kicked and pushed the entire way back to the village had been torture on his aching muscles, and he still didn't know what was wrong with him. If what was going on with his body had been his only problem, he might have been able to figure it out. He couldn't, though, when he also had to worry about what the villagers were going to do to him.

Daniel heard Nasik order that he be tied up, and his pain-fogged mind wondered what he meant. His hands were already tied.

One of the men suddenly blocked his view of Jack and Nasik by stepping in front of him. The man was carrying a coil of rope, and reached down to grab Daniel's hands. He cried out when his arms were jerked upward and held tightly as the man tied the end of the rope he held to the ropes binding his wrists together.

"Oh no you don't." He heard Jack's voice, but couldn't see him at the moment.

What were they doing, anyway?

Once the man in front of him had the line secure, he nodded to some of the others. Seconds later several more men closed around Daniel and pulled him up off the ground.

"AH!"

"Hey, leave him alone!" Jack protested.

The men ignored him, however, and proceeded to drag Daniel halfway across the courtyard. It took him a moment to decipher through the pain that they were taking him toward that tall wooden frame that they'd all seen earlier…

Oh. Up meant _up_. And in his current condition, up was bad.

Very bad.

Immediately Daniel started to struggle, trying to stop their progress by digging his heels into the dirt. It hurt to move even that much, but he knew it wasn't nearly as much as it would hurt to be strung from those poles. Everything ached, but there was more pain in his neck, shoulders, and arms than anywhere else; it would be torture to be pulled up like that and left.

But then again, the villagers knew that, didn't they?

He tried to stop them, and in the background over his own shouts of pain and protest he heard Jack yelling too, but in the end they were both outnumbered and Daniel ran out of energy to fight back.

"Noo…" he moaned as the villagers positioned him under the horizontal bar. One of them tossed the end of the coil of rope over it, and the men on the other side caught it. Two or three of them lined up and took firm hold if it.

Daniel stared in helpless horror at the men about to pull down on the rope. When they did, it would jerk his arms above his head and pull him off the ground, where they would leave him suspended by his wrists for who-knew-how-long.

"Stop it!" Jack shouted.

And then they pulled.


	3. Chapter 3

Whoops, got distracted by school and people and such...anyway, here's the third chapter for ya. Thanks again, and can't wait to hear what you think! :)

Chapter 3

Jack O'Neill stood numbly just outside the door of the Main Hall, where he had been, though now the men restraining him were gone

Jack O'Neill stood numbly just outside the door of the Main Hall, where he had been, though now the men restraining him were gone. The courtyard of the village on P2X-297 was all but deserted, with only a few armed guards patrolling its edges, watching him. But Jack wasn't watching them. He was staring, frozen, across the open space to where Daniel Jackson hung limply by his wrists from the wooden frame. Daniel was unconscious, but his friend's screams still echoed painfully in his mind.

He didn't know what was physically wrong with Daniel, but whatever those thorns had done to him, it was bad. He had shouted when the rope started to pull his arms upward, but the cry had soon become a scream as his body was lifted off the ground. He was obviously in too much pain to handle it quietly as he usually did, and once his feet had been several inches off the ground and the rope had been tied tightly to a hook in one of the vertical poles Daniel had been left that way, gasping.

But had the natives stopped there? Of course they hadn't. Once he was restrained the villagers had proceeded to do a bit more of that roughing up they were apparently good at. The few blows hadn't seemed to have much more purpose than to rub in the fact that the villagers were getting their way, and there was nothing Daniel could do about it but shout in pain from the impacts. Thankfully they had all drifted away soon, letting Jack go and returning to their homes, as it was getting dark. That had been five minutes ago.

Jack took in a breath that shuddered a bit, and finally started to move forward, but hadn't taken more than two steps before he heard Carter's voice calling to him from one of the streets of the village. He looked to his left, and there they were: Carter and Teal'c running toward him.

For the second time that day the two jolted to a stop in front of him, spouting off questions.

"Sir, where's Daniel?"

"Is Daniel Jackson all right, O'Neill?"

Jack sighed and shook his head minutely, and bobbed it in the direction of the wooden frame. They looked where he indicated.

"Oh no!" Carter gasped, suddenly looking sick. "What happened?"

"Natives," Jack grumbled, turning and heading in Daniel's direction with Carter and Teal'c on his heels. Carter sprinted ahead at the last moment and reached Daniel first, putting a hand up to his cheek and patting it lightly.

"Daniel? Can you hear me? It's Sam. Daniel?" she asked worriedly. At first there was no response, but after she'd tried a few more times she finally got a moan from him. That was when Jack reached up and poked at his arm.

"Come on, Danny-boy. Time to wake up." _So we can get you out of here._

Daniel's arm jerked, and Jack felt the muscles in the limb contracting under his fingertips before he pulled them away quickly.  
"Whoa! What the…"

Daniel groaned and his head tilted in the opposite direction, as if to get away from the pain of the muscle spasm. "Ow…Jack, don't…" he mumbled weakly. When his head moved his cheek bumped into Carter's hand again, and his eyes flickered open. "Sam?" he croaked. But speaking louder, with his throat irritated from so much shouting, led to a coughing fit and his body jerked against the ropes.

When he stopped coughing and slumped again Carter reached farther up and pushed his sweaty hair from his eyes. "Yeah. It's me, Daniel. Teal'c and I are here now, too. Are you all right?"

Stupid question, Carter. Anyone could see he wasn't. But Daniel didn't really answer, anyway, so it didn't matter.

Jack swallowed hard. "Daniel, what's going on? What was with the…" He trailed off and gestured toward Daniel's arm.

"Muscle spasms…" he answered. "All over. Must be…the thorns maybe…I don't know…"

"That's probably exactly what it is," Carter sighed, and launched into a quick explanation of what she and Teal'c had discovered. Then she glanced quickly around at the guards that patrolled the courtyard with their spears and clubs, but then looked back to him, clear determination in her eyes. "Don't worry. We're going to get you out of here and get you to the infirmary, okay?"

Jack agreed with her. Muscle spasms all over? _That's_ what the stuff from those thorns was doing to him? Ouch. And that was an understatement.

Daniel looked like he was trying to shake his head, but soon stopped and just lowered it. "Not yet," he said quietly.

"What do you mean _not yet_?" Jack protested, taking a step closer. "I don't plan on letting you stay this way for another five minutes, if I have anything to say about it."

"You don't."

"And why not?"

"They won't let me leave. You know that."

"So? _We _have guns. They don't."

"See what I mean? You'll have to use them if you want to get me out of here, and I don't see any way to avoid people getting hurt, or even killed."

Jack scowled. "Daniel, I'm not just gonna sit around and let them torture you. These people are way behind us in technology–they have nothing to offer us at all. We don't need them. Maybe we should just leave them alone to their gods and curses and never come back."

"Jack…they're just following their belief system. You can't justify _shooting_ them for that," Daniel argued back tiredly.

Carter stepped into the conversation. "Daniel, as far as I can tell, their _belief system _could use some work. If they completely trusted their 'gods' to decide for them who's dangerous and who isn't, then why did the villagers out with me and Teal'c earlier try to keep us away from those trees?"

Jack knew that under normal circumstances, this would have sent the wheels in Daniel's head turning, but apparently in his current position he was too exhausted to try to think that one through.

"It doesn't matter…people would still get hurt. And what about those ruins? If you interfere by trying to get me out of here by force before they let me go, they probably won't let anyone else from Earth come back here. It wouldn't be smart to risk that, either. Those ruins are important. They're Ancient."

"Of course they're ancient. Everything that interests you is ancient," Jack said.

"No, Jack. I mean it was a city built by the Ancients."

Carter's eyebrows went up. "That makes sense, sir. This was one of the addresses you put into the SGC's computer when you had the Ancients' knowledge in your brain."

"It would also explain why there is no Goa'uld presence here," Teal'c agreed.

"Okay, fine, there are cool rocks here. So what?"

Daniel just stared at him. "Do you have any idea how much we could learn from the ruins of an entire Ancient city?"

"No, and at the moment I don't really care, either," Jack retorted. He sighed heavily at Daniel's hurt look. "Look…I'll be right back, okay?"

Daniel gave a slight movement that would have been a shrug if he hadn't been hanging by his wrists. Then Jack headed quickly off back in the direction of the Main Hall. He'd seen Nasik go back in there, and he had business to attend to.

"Nasik!" he called as he burst into the large front room of the building. "Nasik!"

After a moment or so the patriarch showed himself, stepping into the front room from a side hall. "Yes, Colonel O'Neill?"

Jack marched over to the man and stood right in front of him, letting his height intimidate as much as it could. "Just what do you think you're doing? That's one of _my_ people out there strung up like a chicken, not yours. What makes you think you can do that?"

"The laws of our gods clearly state it, Colonel O'Neill. I do not see why you are so upset," Nasik answered patiently. "After all, we will release him once the curse has run its course, and you may take him home."

"But you're _torturing_ him!"

"We are _punishing_ him."

"_I don't care!_" Jack shouted.

Now Nasik scowled at him. "I must warn you, Colonel O'Neill, that we _will_ use force if necessary, as has already been evidenced to you. Any attempts to extract him will be stopped."

"Oh they will, will they?" he glared.

"Yes," Nasik answered confidently. "They will."

Jack glared at him murderously for another moment. "You're not just going to leave him hanging there all night, are you?"

Nasik's eyebrow went up. "Until the curse is over."

"I don't think so. There's no reason for Daniel to be there if you're not-not–" He stopped when both his face and voice faltered, cleared his throat and tried again. "Look, at least let us take him down for the night." If they could get him down without protest, then it would be easier for them to escape later. And they had to. His stomach twisted at the thought of what would happen to Daniel the next day if they didn't.

Nasik studied him for a moment, hopefully taking note of the just-_dare_-try-to-tell-me-no attitude Jack was purposefully exhibiting, and pondering his logic. Finally the patriarch sighed. "Very well, but only for the night. And if you take him down, you must tie him up again yourself in the morning."

The color drained from Jack's face at the thought, though thankfully the evening light was dim and that probably couldn't be seen. He could never do that to Daniel, but with any luck they wouldn't be here in the morning. Though if for some reason they couldn't escape with Daniel…well, it was a chance he would have to take. He was _not_ leaving him up there all night.

"Fine," he snapped, and then turned and walked swiftly back out into the open.

Teal'c and Carter were at Daniel's side, and she was reaching up with a cleansing wipe to his face, trying to tend to the wounds there despite his protests. Jack smiled faintly to himself for a moment.

"Okay, kids, help me get your brother down," he said as he approached.

"Sir?" Carter asked, looking over her shoulder.

Daniel squinted at him. "Why?"

"I asked. Nasik said we could at least let you down for tonight," Jack shrugged, as if it were no big deal. The relief that spread across Daniel's face, however, told a different story.

Carter grinned. "How many limbs did you have to threaten to break, sir?"

"None, believe it or not," Jack answered, rocking back on his heels, quite satisfied with himself–for the moment anyway. Now he just had to convince Daniel to see things his way so they could get the heck outta dodge before he was dealt anymore unnecessary pain. Well, after they got him down from there, anyway. He could just tell that wasn't going to feel good.

Teal'c started to move toward Daniel, but Jack cut him off.

"No, T, I need you on the rope. You're probably the only one of us strong enough to let him down easy."

The jaffa nodded. "Of course," he agreed, and then moved to the rope and began to loosen the knot.

Jack moved behind Daniel and wrapped his arms his waist. He gave a short gasp, but said nothing. Carter set down the first aid kit she'd had in her hands, and stood in front of him to spot.

"Are you ready, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked. He had tight hold of the rope and was about to pull out the knot completely.

_No._ But Jack nodded, "Yep. Daniel, you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," he groaned. "Just do it, guys."

Carter gave a small nod as Daniel's eyes squeezed shut, and Teal'c nodded in return and let the knot go. He held to rope so it would not move immediately, but Daniel pulled in a breath anyway. Then Teal'c began to let the rope out as slowly as he could.

Daniel shouted when his weight transferred from the ropes around his wrists to Jack, and Jack was forced to hold onto him tightly to keep him from falling. Then his arms started to drop, and he cried out again.

Jack grimaced to himself. "Hold on, Danny. We'll have you down in a minute," he soothed, even though at the same time he was forced to squeeze tighter as the rest of Daniel's weight came to rest in his arms. Carter caught his hands and brought his arms down as easily as she could, though he still cried out again and there were a few tears of pain trailing down his cheeks by then.

Jack backed up and carefully lowered his friend to the ground, but Daniel's steady stream of loud groans didn't stop until he was lying down, his head propped on Teal'c's pack and not moving anymore.

Jack sighed and put a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Sorry…we did the best we could…"

"I kn-know," Daniel stammered, his eyes still shut. "-t's okay…owww…"

"Having second thoughts _now_ about staying here until their sick little game is finished?" Jack asked as Carter pulled out a knife to cut the ropes. When one of the patrolling guards saw what she was doing, however, he stepped forward and stopped her, telling her Daniel could stay down for the night, but he had to stay where he was and that his bindings were to be left alone. Carter sighed in frustration, closed the knife and angrily shoved it back into her vest.

Jack glared at the man's back as he walked off, then looked back to Daniel, who hadn't answered his question. Daniel's eyes were open now, expression disturbed at the exchange between Carter and the patrolling guard. Jack didn't blame him. It disturbed him too. Another idea had been cooking in his mind for a little while, and he decided now was the time to voice it.

"All right, if you don't want to risk any of the villagers getting hurt, then how about this: I get Nasik to let me take your place."

"Sir?" Carter asked.

Daniel frowned. "What? Are you crazy?"

"Do I look crazy to you? Don't answer that," he added quickly. "Look, you've been hurt enough, and besides, that would keep anyone _else_ from getting hurt."

"Except you," Daniel pointed out.

"That's the point."

"That's what's wrong with it."

The two men glared at each other.

"Uh…sir?" Carter questioned again. Probably this time it was in an attempt to stop the glaring contest, but Jack ignored her.

It didn't last anyway; it was put to a stop when a muscle spasm doubled Daniel over and he cried out in pain.

Jack tried to put a hand on his friend's shoulder for comfort, but Daniel flinched away from the touch as he shivered and moaned. Carter was holding onto one of Daniel's hands, suddenly looking decidedly paler along with the worried look on her face. Jack didn't blame her; he knew his own skin probably didn't look that bright at the moment either. When the spasms finally stopped Daniel slumped back against his makeshift pillow, a new sheen of sweat covering his skin.

"Daniel…?"

"Sorry," he moaned.

"Nothing to be sorry for..." Jack answered quietly.

"Are you all right?" Carter asked, her voice laced with concern.

Daniel's head moved just a fraction in what might have been intended as a nod. "Sometimes being touched or using the muscles starts the spasms, but…sometimes it just happens….But I'm…okay, I guess…sort of…"

Jack sighed. "Just try to get some rest for now."

"Promise me you won't try to get Nasik to let you take my place," Daniel insisted.

"All right, I won't, all right? Now go to sleep."

Daniel gave a small sigh. "Okay…" he relented, eyes closing in exhaustion. Within minutes his breathing evened out–a welcome change, after having to listen to the ragged breaths he'd been pulling in while suspended–and it became apparent that he was asleep.

"Sir, what was that about taking his place?" Carter inquired. "I don't want Daniel to suffer anymore either, but that–"

"Would keep him from having to," Jack interrupted.

"But what about you?"

Teal'c nodded. "Major Carter is correct. That would save Daniel Jackson from any more unnecessary pain, but what of you, O'Neill?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Well, it's not like _I_ want to be stuck here for another two days either. Once you two got Daniel back to Earth you could come back with reinforcements and get me out too."

"But, sir, you promised–"

"I know, Carter," Jack said, interrupting her a second time. He sighed. "I'm not going to do that, all right? But one way or another we _are_ going to get him out of here before they can do anything else to him."

"But there is only one other way," Teal'c said.

"_I_ know that," Jack frowned. "Look, just…drop it for now, okay? Both of you."

"Yes sir," Carter sighed quietly. Teal'c only nodded.

At first Daniel slept soundly, while the other members of SG-1 took turns sitting beside him and going to speak with Nasik. But nothing could shake Nasik's resolve that the ritual be completed before Daniel could leave. The rest of SG-1 was free to go however, he said, and return later for him. As if they were going anywhere.

Fine then. If they couldn't just take Daniel and go without resistance…well, they would take Daniel and go anyway. But it was much too early in the night now. The patrolling guards were fresh, and alert to the fact the visitors might attempt to get their friend out. They would wait. Surely it would be easier later…or somewhat, anyway. So wait they did.

Eventually Carter fell asleep on the ground next to Daniel, her head on her own pack, and Jack leaned back against one of the wooden poles, nodding off every now and then as Teal'c stood in silent vigil above his teammates and glared at the guards as they passed.

Not many hours into the night, Jack was startled to full awareness by Teal'c's hand on his shoulder and a quiet utterance of "O'Neill". As he straightened, Jack heard what the jaffa was worried about. Daniel was moaning in his sleep, his forehead beaded with sweat and his face creasing with pain every now and then. Carter soon woke as well and grimly assessed that the symptoms from the thorns' poison must be getting worse, but they hardly needed her to say it to know; they could see the muscle spasms that rippled through his body.

As the night wore on Daniel's condition continued to deteriorate, and from her position beside him Carter kept a hand on his shoulder to offer what comfort she could, but it couldn't stop him from being awakened every so often from sudden harsh spasms. Each time exhaustion dragged Daniel back into sleep relatively quickly, but Jack could tell that the little sleep he was getting wasn't helping him much. Finally, Jack couldn't take it anymore.

"That's it," he announced suddenly, sitting up.

Carter looked up at him in confusion. "Sir?"

"We're not staying here any longer. It's time. We're getting him out of here, _now_."

Carter looked around cautiously. "Do you think that's a good idea right now?"

"Of course I do," Jack huffed. "Look–that one's dozing, and there's a gap in the coverage over there. It's the perfect time of night to make our escape. Now, they took my weapons and Daniel's are probably with the rest of his stuff out in the ruins, but we've still got yours and Teal'c's, and I doubt they've ever seen either work. It'll be enough to scare them and let us get out of here without too much trouble."

Carter smiled then. "I hope so, sir."

"Yeah, me too." Then Jack stood. "Teal'c, you ready?"

The eyebrow went up. "Of course, O'Neill. I have been ready."

Jack shrugged. "Just checking. Now give me your staff weapon."

The eyebrow went up even further.

"Look, if we're going to get out of here as fast as we can, you're going to have to carry Daniel."

Now Teal'c nodded in understanding. "Very well," he said, handing over the weapon. Jack took the staff and thanked him.

"Sir…" Carter's voice sounded behind him in soft warning.

"Jack…" another voice said softly.

Crap. Daniel was awake. They wouldn't be able to move him without it causing significant pain, and Jack knew it.

Jack sighed and stooped down again. "Yeah, Daniel, I'm here."

Daniel blinked and looked up at him, obviously being careful not to move too much. "Jack…what are you doing with Teal'c's staff weapon?" he questioned weakly.

"Nothing."

"Jack-"

"Daniel."

Daniel looked at him for another few seconds through bleary eyes, but it soon became obvious that he didn't have the energy to argue. His eyes slipped closed again. Jack wasn't sure if he was sleeping or not, but he wasn't saying anything.

"Thank you," Jack nodded, speaking quietly. "Major, can you give him a sedative? You know, to knock him out and make sure he doesn't wake up again before we get home? I don't wanna hurt him…"

Carter shook her head and replied in a hushed tone as well. "I don't want to hurt him any more either, sir, but I don't have enough information about the poison to know if it would be safe to give him anything."

"In other words…"

"I can't, sir."

Jack sighed. "Perfect. Teal'c, you're just gonna have to be careful. 'Cause if he's awake…"

"I am perfectly aware, O'Neill," Teal'c replied quietly.

"Right," Jack said, standing again. "Okay, if we're gonna do this…"

Teal'c nodded silently and stooped to pick up their archaeologist, carefully lifting him and draping him over his shoulders. Unfortunately, that action answered the question of whether Daniel was awake or not. He shouted when he was picked up, but by the time Teal'c had Daniel settled on his shoulders, he'd gone limp.

"Daniel?" Carter asked worriedly.

Jack swallowed. "He just passed out, Carter; he'll be fine. Come on, let's move."

When SG-1 tried to leave the courtyard, however, one of the guards stepped in their way.

"Where do you think you are going?" he asked, frowning at them.

"We're going home," Jack stated matter-of-factly. "And we're taking Daniel with us."

"I'm afraid that's not possible. The rest of you may leave if you wish, but you must leave him here until the curse has run its course."

Jack's eyes rolled. "Here we go again; like a broken record." The man looked at him strangely, of course not knowing what a record was, and Jack shook his head. "Never mind. Just get out of the way if you know what's good for you."

The man didn't budge.

"Carter…"

Carter raised her gun at the man, but he only crossed his arms over his chest. "I cannot allow you to take him anywhere."

Jack leveled the staff weapon at him and opened it. The man took a small step backward with widening eyes at the crackle of energy that traveled in between the leaves. "And I can't allow you to keep him here."

At Jack's quick nod Carter lowered her P-90 and took a couple of shots at the ground, which caused the man to jump back several more feet.

"Go, Teal'c!" O'Neill shouted.


	4. Chapter 4

Here ya go! Thanks so much to all of you who have been reviewing. I hope you continue to, 'cause it helps a lot. Thanks!

Chapter 4

Teal'c broke into a run, skirting the guard and heading toward the edge of the small village.

"Come back here!" the guard called after him. He started to turn and run after Teal'c, but Jack ran past him at that moment with Carter. Carter fired more bullets into the ground at the guard's feet. It scared him enough to make him stumble back once more, and gave SG-1 time to get ahead before he recovered and was joined by the other guards.

Jack and Carter caught up to Teal'c at the edge of the village. There were still the outlying fields to get through before they came to the mountain where the Stargate was, however, and now the guards were following them, pulling out bows and arrows. Behind them, the clamor of noise from the village rose as rudely awakened natives spilled from their homes in search of the cause of the racket that had jolted them from sleep.

"Sir?" Carter asked, unsure if they could make it to the safety of the trees in time.

"Just keep running, Carter!" Jack shouted over the rush of air in his ears as they fled. Teal'c pumped harder in the direction of the relative safety of the forest, and Jack was right on his heels with Carter. They reached the base of the mountain, and the incline and trees forced them to slow a bit. It wasn't a terribly long way up, but it was far enough, and steep–and the villagers were still following them. Their bows and arrows had been thrown aside when the team had reached the trees, but they were still in pursuit of their prisoner.

A pained moan, this time sufficiently more aware, caught Jack's attention. "Jack-" a choked voice gasped.

A sharp pang appeared in Jack's chest when he realized Daniel was awake again and in pain–a lot of it. Darn it, this had been a bad idea…but it would have been worse for Daniel if they'd stayed. He could only hope he'd done the right thing.

"Hold on, Daniel," Carter huffed as they climbed. "We're almost home."

Daniel only replied with a pained cry at a sudden jolt. If he had an opinion on the 'home' part of that sentence, he wasn't showing any of it now. Granted, though, that was probably because he was hurting too much at the moment.

"I am sorry, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c apologized. They could all see Daniel's muscles contracting in more spasms, and he pressed his face into Teal'c's jacket to stifle his cries as they moved quickly along.

"Not–your fault–Teal'c–" his muffled voice gasped.

The villagers were at the base of the hill now, climbing angrily after them, shouting at them to stop. But there was the 'Gate. It wasn't far now. Jack could see Teal'c pushing himself harder. Daniel shouted, but he would be all right if they could just get him home…

Carter seemed to have the same thought, and sprinted up to the DHD, way ahead of Jack as he called at her to dial it up. Dial it she did, as quickly as humanly possible. Seconds later the Stargate opened.

"Okay, go!" Jack ordered as soon as he had punched in the IDC code on his GDO. Teal'c reacted immediately and bounded through first, with the other half of his team not far behind.

"Close it!" Jack shouted, once on the other side. Sergeant Harriman quickly obliged as an arrow or three followed SG-1 through the event horizon, and the iris spiraled shut behind them. Hopefully none of the villagers would try to come through after them. If they did, they would be killed. Thankfully, it didn't seem as if any had; the 'Gate shut down a moment later.

"Colonel O'Neill, what happened?" General Hammond queried from the control room.

Carter was already pulling out her knife again to cut the ropes from Daniel's wrists as Jack answered. "Sorry, sir. We hit a little snag."

"What happened to Doctor Jackson?" Hammond asked as Carter succeeded in pulling the ropes away from Daniel and dropping them.

"Long story short, sir, we had a problem with the natives. If you don't mind, tell Doc Fraiser to be ready for us. We're taking him straight to the infirmary."

Hammond sighed and nodded. "Very well, colonel. De-brief will be in one hour."

"Thank you, sir!" Jack said gratefully. Without having to be told, Teal'c moved on, stepping carefully off the ramp and heading toward the door as Jack and Carter followed closely. The jaffa walked as smoothly as possible, but the damage from the run up the hill had already been done, and Daniel was still gasping in pain.

"You will be in the infirmary soon, Daniel Jackson."

"Great, my f-favorite place," Daniel joked quietly, though the statement was tailed with a plaintive moan.

Janet Fraiser was waiting for them just inside the infirmary door, ready for whatever might come, as always. She joined SG-1 and followed as Teal'c made a beeline for the nearest bed and carefully laid Daniel down on it.

"What happened?" Fraiser asked, moving in with the ever-present penlight. Daniel winced at its brightness as Jack tried to explain.

"Some kind of weird belief the villagers had. They thought those thorns were a curse, and when they found out he'd been stuck by some of them, well…lets just say they weren't too happy–"

Fraiser interrupted him. "I can see that, colonel. I need the bottom line."

"The thorns," Carter interjected. "The ones I sent you samples of? We're pretty sure that whatever's in them is causing his symptoms."

"What symptoms?"

Carter winced at that. "Uh…acute muscle spasms."

A look of sympathy and worry flashed over Fraiser's face that he wouldn't have been able to catch if he hadn't known her, like they all did. It was gone in an instant, and she was the doctor again. She sighed and pocketed the penlight in her lab coat. "That sounds consistent with the results we have so far from chemical analysis of the liquid in the thorns. How long has it been since the spasms started?"

Jack blinked; that he didn't know, and of course Carter and Teal'c didn't know either. "Uhm…"

Fraiser turned back to Daniel, touching his shoulder with a gentle hand. "Daniel…?"

Apparently he'd already picked up on the question. "Ah, since noon or so, I think," he answered shortly.

"The natives said something about it lasting two days," Jack added.

"But we're not sure if that time is measured from when he was first injected with the poison, or from when the symptoms started. We don't know exactly how long their days are, either," Carter pointed out.

"Well, whatever…look, doc, can you do something for him? We can't just leave him like this."

"I'm fine, Jack." Daniel protested. "Would've been fine." He was struggling a bit to speak, his sentences broken by heavy breathing. "You shouldn't…have done that."

"What, gotten you out of there?" Jack asked. "Of course I should have."

"Someone could've been…killed, Jack," he glared. "Too much risk."

Jack scowled at him. "But no one got hurt, Daniel. You can thank me later. For your information, you would not have been 'fine'. You're not fine 'now'."

"He's right, Daniel," Fraiser agreed gently.

"But–"

"Daniel, not now," Fraiser said firmly. "Colonel O'Neill and the others need to leave now."

"We do?" Jack asked.

Fraiser skewered him with a look at the same time Carter said, "We probably should, sir."

"Go shower, change clothes, eat something…all of you," Fraiser ordered. "You need it; get some rest. We'll take care of Daniel."

"He gonna be okay?" Jack questioned.

"He should be," Fraiser nodded. "But we need more information here. I need to perform further tests on both Daniel and the liquid from the thorns, and I can't do that until the lot of you clear out. I promise I'll let you back in in a little while, but for now you need to go."

Jack sighed. "All right. Just let us know as soon as it's okay to come back."

"I will, colonel."

Carter had stepped forward to the side of the bed, and now she placed a hand over one of Daniel's and gently squeezed. "We'll be back soon, okay? Just hang in there."

Jack watched as Daniel smiled up at her through the pain still etched on his face. "I will…thanks…" he replied quietly. He was shivering, and his energy was noticeably flagging again; he would be asleep again soon.

"You're welcome," Carter said, stepping away from the bed. She returned his smile, but Jack could see the worry that hid beneath it.

"I hope you will be well as soon as possible, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c offered.

"Thanks, Teal'c."

"I'll let you know as soon as I know anything else," Fraiser assured them all.

"Okay then, let's get out of here, kids," Jack ordered. "We'll be back, Daniel." Then, with a final nod from Teal'c, the rest of SG-1 moved off while Fraiser pulled the curtain around Daniel's bed.

Carter crossed her arms over her chest nervously once they were out in the corridor. "What now, sir?"

Jack sighed. "Now we go get changed, and find something to do until the de-briefing. We'll come back here right after that. Doc should be done with…whatever she's doing by then."

"Indeed."

* * *

Sam hurried back to the infirmary with the colonel and Teal'c immediately after the de-brief, which had taken a bit longer than they'd hoped. The need to see how Daniel was doing was pressing on her, and she could see it in her friends as well. The fact that almost the moment they stepped through the infirmary doors they heard a scream that sounded distinctly like Daniel didn't make her feel any better.

"Doc, what's going on?" Colonel O'Neill asked worriedly as they burst through the curtain.

"Stay out of the way, colonel!" Janet replied quickly. The rest of SG-1 obeyed, but barely. Sam's eyes widened with worry along with the colonel's. It was, in fact, Daniel who had screamed, and he was still screaming and shaking violently. It didn't look quite as if it was being caused by the poison; it looked more like…a seizure.

No. Not a seizure. Why was he screaming so much…? Whatever was wrong couldn't be hurting that much…

Janet called for a syringe of…something, and as soon as one of the nurses had handed it to her she injected it. A moment or so later and the shaking and screaming had faded. Daniel went limp, moaning. The thin shirt of the blue scrubs he'd been changed into clung to his skin, dampened by sweat. Janet sighed and gave instructions to her staff to keep an eye on him before motioning for SG-1 to step out.

"What happened?" Sam questioned immediately after they were outside the curtain again.

Janet sighed. "He's still in a lot of pain; he couldn't sleep. I didn't want to just leave him like that, and after examining the data I had on the poison again I thought it would be all right to give him a dose of valium–it's both a sedative and a muscle relaxant. I tried, but…" she gestured vaguely back toward her patient. "I was wrong, and I'm sorry. There must be something else in that liquid we can't detect that disagrees with what's in our drugs."

"So what was it you stabbed him with after we came in?" Colonel O'Neill asked.

"That was a reversal agent."

Sam swallowed hard, shaken by the news and still queasy from hearing Daniel's screams only a few moments before. "Oh, gosh…thank goodness we didn't try to give him a sedative before we got back…" If they had, he mostly likely would have died. Then Sam blinked, realizing something. "Wait, if you can't sedate him..."

Janet's lips pressed into a thin line and she nodded. "I'm afraid all we can do for him until the poison works itself out of his system is make him as comfortable as we can."

"Crap," Colonel O'Neill winced. "Isn't there anything else you can do?"

She shook her head. "If I can't give him a common sedative safely, then it'd be just as risky to try other drugs."

"Oh boy…" Sam said, running a hand through her hair. _This is _not_ going to be fun…for either him or us…_

Colonel O'Neill sighed. "Can we see him now?"

Janet nodded. "Yes, and you can stay as long as you want…he would probably appreciate it."

Sam nodded in response, her face troubled. The colonel only inclined his head. Janet gave them a small encouraging smile, but Sam could see through it to the concern for Daniel she was trying to hide. Then Janet left to get back to her duties. SG-1 quietly moved back through the curtain, bringing chairs with them. A couple of the nurses were still hovering near Daniel's bed.

Once it was determined the reversal drug was working and the last nurses had cleared out, SG-1 was left alone. Daniel's breathing still sounded a bit labored, and his skin and hair were damp from sweat. The few surface wounds on his face and wrists had been cleaned and bandaged. Though Daniel didn't move, his eyes took them in.

"Hey guys," Daniel said weakly. He started to raise a hand in greeting, but grimaced and dropped it again when the muscles in his arms spasmed in response to his movement.

"Daniel?" the colonel asked, moving to the bedside in answer to the whimper of pain that came from Daniel.

"You okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah…I just can't move, that's all." Then he seemed to finally notice the chairs they'd dragged in with them. "Guys, you don't have to stay…"

"We're not going anywhere, Daniel," Colonel O'Neill said firmly, taking his seat.

"We will not leave, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c agreed.

Sam agreed as well, and brought her chair around to the opposite side of the bed from Colonel O'Neill. She sat down and gently took his left hand in her hands, confirming the men's statements. Daniel tried to squeeze back but then that arm went into a spasm too. Besides hearing his cry, Sam could feel the spasm and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Whoa, Daniel, easy. It's all right. Just don't try to move at all okay?" It was enough to know he was suffering; she didn't want him to suffer any more for their benefit.

Daniel's eyes closed wearily. "Yeah, gotta get used to not moving–at least for the next day or so anyway…" he trailed off. "I guess Janet told you she can't sedate me," he added quietly.

"Yeah, we uhm, we saw what happened when she tried to," Colonel O'Neill answered quietly.

Daniel's eyes opened again and he paled even more than he already had, looking dangerously close to passing out. "You were here then?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah," she answered slowly, reaching up to push back his damp hair.

"Don't worry, Danny-boy. We'll be here for you until this is over," the colonel assured him. Sam wasn't arguing; she didn't plan on going anywhere either.

"Jack, all of you can't stay here for another twenty-four hours. You've been awake long enough already, and with this and all…" As if to punctuate his statement Daniel suddenly yelled, his face twisting with the pain that rippled through his body.

"Well, at least one of us will be here the whole time, okay?" Colonel O'Neill said once Daniel had calmed again, his voice sounding even more adamant about it now. Sam knew Daniel wasn't entirely happy with Colonel O'Neill at the moment, and might have preferred that he, at least, not stay here, but Daniel was just going to have to get over it. None of them were going to let their friend go through this alone–no way, no how.

"We're staying right here, Daniel," Sam said.

Daniel's eyes swiveled to look at her, and somehow he managed a shadow of a smile. "Well…thanks," he gasped.


	5. Chapter 5

Here you go! Thanks for all the reviews; I love hearing from you guys. :)

Chapter 5

Daniel was pretty sure it had been early morning when SG-1 had returned to the SGC, but none of his friends had budged from Daniel's side until Jack finally convinced Sam and Teal'c to leave for just a little while to eat with the lunch crowd

Daniel was pretty sure it had been early morning when SG-1 had returned to the SGC, but none of his friends had budged from Daniel's side until Jack finally convinced Sam and Teal'c to leave for just a little while to eat with the lunch crowd. They promised to bring something back for Jack, listened with apparent unhappiness to Daniel decline to eat anything and then reluctantly left, promising not to be gone long.

Then Jack and Daniel were left alone for the first time since their tumble down toward the village on P2X-297 early the previous day. Daniel tried to convince Jack to go too, but he refused to budge, much to Daniel's annoyance. Daniel moaned quietly as his eyes slipped shut again, taking some small comfort in the cool damp cloth Sam had been mopping across his forehead, which she had left there for him. He'd acquired a fever over the course of the past few hours, and as Janet hadn't wanted to risk giving him any more drugs, they had been trying to keep him as cool as they could that way.

Daniel hadn't purposefully moved a muscle in hours, but when they contracted his limbs would jerk involuntarily, and that only brought more pain, and in turn prompted more spasms…. It was a never-ending cycle of torment that he couldn't seem to break. Everything was too sore. He was more exhausted than he ever remembered being, and all he wanted to do was sleep, but it was impossible. Just as he would start to drift off something in his body would contract again, leaving him gasping, and that didn't help his aching stomach, sore from the blows the natives of the planet had seen fit to inflict on him.

"Daniel?"

"What, Jack?" he mumbled tiredly.

"So, how ya doing?" Jack asked.

"Okay under the circumstances, I guess. You?"

"Me? Well, you know me–I'm just sitting here. Don't think I can feel my rear end anymore, but whatever…"

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Jack, just go with Sam and Teal'c; you have to be hungry by now. I'll be fine."

"No, Daniel. I made a promise to you that one of us would be here for you until this was over, and I'm going to keep it."

Daniel snorted. "Why bother? You've already broken one today." He heard a rustling and opened his eyes again to see Jack sitting forward, frowning.

"Hey, I never _promised_ I wouldn't pull you out of there."

He hadn't? Oh, right, he hadn't promised, not about that. The exhaustion was making it hard to remember details…but so what?

"So? It was still too risky; people could have died."

"Yeah, maybe, but nobody _did_. I told you that."

"That doesn't mean it wasn't stupid in the first place," Daniel scowled.

"I wasn't going to let you stay there and suffer," Jack countered heatedly. "Besides, you wouldn't let me try to take your place. That would have worked fine; no one else would have been hurt."

"But you would have been; that wasn't acceptable."

"Why not? What they were doing wouldn't have hurt me as much as it was hurting you, 'cause I hadn't been stuck by any of those thorns. Besides, that way there wouldn't have even been any _chance _of anybody else getting hurt; it would have just been me. No one else would have been at risk."

"That's why it was a screwed-up idea!" Daniel protested.

"But that's exactly the situation you were putting _yourself_ in by insisting we not interfere!" Jack stopped abruptly there, his eyes glazing over as he seemed to suddenly think of something.

Daniel stared at Jack for a moment, trying to process what'd they'd both just said. He couldn't turn his head to look away with his muscles being as sore and temperamental as they were, so he closed his eyes again and sighed. Somehow parts of that conversation–okay, argument– were reminiscent of something that had been raging in his mind for weeks.

Jack was silent for a long while, and Daniel didn't say anything either, but the silence was broken when suddenly almost every muscle in his body seemed to rebel at once.

He screamed.

"Daniel?" Jack asked in concern. Daniel could hear the voice above him and realized Jack was on his feet now, but he couldn't answer as he trembled, groaning loudly. His eyes were clenched shut and he kept them that way, trying to battle the pain and having little to no success.

"Doc!" he heard Jack shout.

Daniel gasped desperately in pain, trying to straighten his body again, but it wouldn't cooperate. His arms flailed uselessly as his muscles did what they would with them, and after a few more agonizing seconds he felt one of Jack's hands catch one of his and hold on tightly as if it might help. Daniel squeezed back, exerting what control he still had and taking what comfort was offered from the simple gesture. At the moment he was hurting too much to care whose hand it was.

"What now?" Jack asked worriedly.

_How should I know, Jack?_

"I don't know," another voice answered for him, sounding every bit as worried as Jack and much more frustrated. Oh. Janet.

After another moment the mass spasm stopped and Daniel slumped back against his pillow, releasing a dry sob. Jack's hand was still clasped with his, but he wasn't complaining; he shamelessly squeezed it as he breathed through the residual pain.

"W-what was that?" he stammered.

Janet winced sympathetically. "It must have stages of some sort. I think it just entered the next one."

Daniel closed his eyes and let his hand slip from Jack's to land on the mattress beside him. "Wonderful," he moaned. He still had almost eighteen hours of this to get through. It was obvious Jack knew it too; Daniel heard him swear quietly.

Janet apologized again for not being able to do anything, and Daniel had to assure her again that it was all right, and he knew she was doing everything she could. She left a few moments later, after checking his vital signs, but she still didn't look entirely happy. He didn't blame her.

The damp cloth that had been on Daniel's forehead had slipped off, and after Janet excused herself Jack picked it up, re-soaked it in more cool water, rung it out and replaced it. Daniel murmured a quiet thanks and shut his eyes again.

"You're welcome," Jack answered, and Daniel heard him sit down again. Jack's hand lightly touched his shoulder. "Don't worry, buddy–I'll be here."

* * *

Carter and Teal'c returned shortly, and were just as worried as Jack when they heard what had happened while they had been away. Jack hardly touched the food they brought him, now too sick to his stomach at the thought of what his friend was having to go through to really want it.

There was no chance to finish the conversation–all right, argument–which he and Daniel had been in the middle of. Daniel's fever continued to rise despite their efforts, and the spasms did not lighten. By mid-afternoon he had slipped into a semi-conscious state, feverish and in too much pain to stay awake any longer, but conversely hurting too much to fall asleep.

Jack and Carter stayed on either side of him in their seats, keeping some kind of physical contact and speaking comfortingly to him whenever another attack hit, not knowing how much he could hear them but hoping that at least some of it would help in some way. Eventually Jack found himself holding onto Daniel's hand again, with Carter opposite him holding his other one, still keeping the cool cloth on his forehead in hope that it would help too.

Sometimes Teal'c stood, and sometimes he sat, but he was always there as well, doing what he could to help. But as the hours wore on the only response they got from Daniel was a small grunt or moan, and if Jack tried to extract his hand something in the back of Daniel's unconscious mind made him tighten his grip, not letting Jack go. Not that Jack really wanted to go anywhere.

Fraiser didn't go home either, but stayed in the infirmary, checking in on SG-1 as often as she could. By late in the night, there was good news. Finally, Daniel's fever broke. His temperature began to come down, and little by little the severity of the muscles spasms started to lessen. Only a few more hours remained.

Jack sighed tiredly and looked over at Carter.

"Carter, maybe you should go get some sleep now. Teal'c, you should go kel'no'reem or whatever. Daniel'll be fine. I can watch him.

"Sir, with all due respect, you've been here since we got back. If any of us needs sleep, it's you," Carter countered.

"I don't plan on going anywhere."

Carter gave him a small smile. "Me either, sir."

"Nor I, O'Neill," Teal'c announced. "We will stay."

Jack tried to think of another reasonable argument but found none. "Suit yourself," he shrugged. He just hoped General Hammond would give them all a couple of days off when this was over. They would all need it.

Jack meant to stay awake, to make sure he was there for Daniel if he was needed, but inevitably he drifted off only to jerk awake later to the sound of rustling bed sheets. He lifted his head to find that his face had been pressed into them. He could feel the impression of the folds on his right cheek…but he couldn't feel Daniel's hand in his.

Jack sat up, perhaps a bit too quickly, and after shaking his head once or twice and blinking a few times to get over the dizziness and adjust his eyes to the dim light of the infirmary once again, he looked around. Across from him Carter was asleep against the other side of the infirmary bed, at its foot Teal'c seemed to be kel'no'reeming in his chair, and Daniel…

A muffled cry brought his attention to the head of the bed, where Daniel was awake and had pushed himself up into a sitting position. His legs were curled up under him, his arms were around his chest, and he was shivering and leaning against his pillows behind him.

"Daniel, what are you doing?" Jack asked softly, so as not to wake the other two. Standing brought him a bit closer to his friend, and it became obvious that Daniel was shivering in pain, and not from the cool temperature of the infirmary. "You okay?"

"N-no," he gasped. "But I-I couldn't j-ust lay there any m-more."

Jack winced and slowly sat down on the edge of the bed. "It's not that bad anymore, is it?" he asked.

Daniel shook his head. "No, b-but it's bad en-nough, and moving didn't really help m-uch."

"Ya think?"

"Jack, how much l-longer?" Daniel asked desperately.

Jack sighed and shrugged helplessly. "We don't know for sure, Danny, but it shouldn't be too much longer."

Daniel's eyes closed again and he moaned. "I hope not." But then he cried out, and Jack could see his muscles contracting again, bringing his friend's pain to another peak. "AH! Jack!" he shouted.

"Whoa, take it easy, Daniel. It's okay…" Jack slid forward, taking his friend's shoulders in his hands, but that didn't help much, and Jack found himself pulling Daniel into his arms and holding him. Daniel buried his face in his shoulder while he gasped and sobbed, waiting for the torment to be over. "Hold on, Daniel…"

Daniel nodded weakly against him.

Beside them Carter stirred, and after another moment or so her eyes opened and she sat up slowly, blinking. When she saw them her eyebrows went up, but she didn't ask questions. She could see Daniel was awake and in pain, and she was needed too; she silently moved over to sit on the other edge of the bed, beside Daniel, and put an arm around his shoulders comfortingly.

Soon Teal'c had come out of his kel'no'rim as well and sat next to Carter, putting a gentle hand on Daniel's arm.

"It's okay, Daniel," Carter said to him quietly as he shivered in his friends' arms. "We're all here for you. You'll be all right."

"Just a little longer," Jack added, rubbing his back as if to massage out the kinks in Daniel's muscles. Maybe it really was helping, and maybe it wasn't, but it seemed to calm him down, make him feel more secure, and that was what counted.

"Th-thanks guys," Daniel's muffled voice stammered through a whimper of pain.

_Just a little longer_, Jack echoed again in his own mind. _Hold on, Daniel. Just a little longer…_

Another hour or so passed, but none of SG-1 moved. Daniel's shivering and pained groans slowly became less pronounced, until finally he lay motionless against Jack, carefully pulling in deep breaths.

"Daniel?" Jack asked.

Carter brought a hand to his forehead. "You don't feel as warm anymore. Did it stop?"

"I think so," Daniel mumbled weakly.

Carter sighed and shared a glance with Jack. "Okay…look, we're going to lay you back down and then I'll go get Janet, all right?" she said soothingly.

Daniel nodded, though barely. Carter nodded back and looked to Jack again. Her relief was evident to him, and he was sure that his was to her. It was over. As sore as Daniel had to be, Jack knew recovery wouldn't be a piece of cake, but at least the crisis was over.

Carefully, supporting him as much as they could, Jack, Sam, and Teal'c lowered Daniel back onto the bed. He gasped from the movement, and moaned a few times, but he didn't seem to mind once he was lying down again.

"You okay?" Carter asked once he was flat again.

"I'm okay Sam, just…"

"Sore?"

"Yeah," he sighed.

Carter nodded sympathetically. "I bet. But you'll be okay. I'll be right back." She gave him a reassuring smile and then turned to fetch the doctor. As she left Jack and Teal'c slid off the bed to stand beside it.

"Will you be all right, Daniel Jackson?"

"I'll be fine, Teal'c–as soon as I can move without every muscle in my body telling me not to," Daniel replied tiredly. "Guess I'll have to stay here a while." But he wasn't complaining about that, either. Jack didn't blame him; he knew he wouldn't have felt like going anywhere after something like that.

Jack scrubbed his hands over his face and then shoved them into his pockets. "I think we all could use some rest now."

"No kidding…"

Daniel trailed off when Janet Fraiser pushed through the curtain around his bed with Carter on her heels and went to the bedside.

"Hey," Fraiser smiled softly. "How are you doing?"

"I'm waiting for you to tell me it's over."

"Okay…I'm going to take a blood sample to find out if the poison from the thorns has dissipated yet, all right?" Fraiser said, pulling out a needle and syringe.

Daniel nodded, not trying to protest, as exhausted as he was, even though he probably didn't care much for needles at this point.

When Fraiser was done she briefly squeezed his hand. "Hopefully you can get some sleep now. If the results on the blood sample come out all right I can give you a sedative if you want it. I'll let you know."

"Thanks, Janet."

Fraiser smiled at him again, then nodded to the rest of SG-1 and departed.

"You want us to leave so you can rest?" Jack asked.

"That would probably be a good idea," Daniel agreed, eyes closing.

"Okay," Carter said, leaning to kiss his forehead. "We'll be back later to check on you."

"Thanks Sam, Teal'c…"

Teal'c nodded. "You are welcome, Daniel Jackson." Then he turned and followed Carter from the infirmary.

Jack, though, hadn't moved yet. Something was nagging at him, and he wasn't sure he could leave without expressing it. That last lucid conversation he'd had with Daniel before the pain had taken over had made him realize a few things.

"Jack?"

"What?"

Daniel smiled, eyes still shut. "I'm trying to sleep here."

"Ah. Right. Sorry–leaving now," Jack said, chucking a thumb over his shoulder. He turned and pushed back the curtain to go, but paused when his friend's quiet voice stopped him.

"Thanks Jack," Daniel said, almost too softly for him to hear.

Jack smiled to himself. "You're welcome," he answered. Then, satisfied for the moment, he left, promising himself that he would clear things up once Daniel had recovered.


	6. Chapter 6

Okidoki, well, here's the last part. I hope you'll still review so I know what you think of the end though! ;) Thanks for reading!

Oh, and one mre thing: I've got a couple little plot bunnies that could turning into a little missing-scene-story for my story _Arrows of Fire_, and maybe even a full sequal, in later months...anybody interested?

Chapter 6

"Hey," Jack said in greeting as he slipped back into Daniel's little corner of the infirmary late that afternoon. The head of the bed had been raised so he could sit up more easily and he was now, leaning back against his pillows. He felt better than he had the last time Jack had seen him–before he'd left that morning, probably to crash in his quarters on base–and he certainly hoped he looked better.

Daniel wasn't in as much pain as he had been early that morning, but still when he turned his head quickly in Jack's direction at the sound of the greeting, he grimaced at the abrupt movement of his neck. He blinked back the pain and looked up at his friend.

"Hey, Jack," he said simply.

"So…doing better?" Jack asked, standing next to him now with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"I guess," Daniel sighed. "I can move now–some. Janet thinks it'll still be another couple of days before I can get out of here, though."

"Ah. Well, don't worry; we won't let you get bored," Jack smiled.

Daniel smirked. "Uh huh." Then he fell silent and scanned the immediate vicinity. When he saw no one near except Jack, he took a breath and decided to say the things that had been weighing on his mind since the day before.

"What?" Jack asked. "You okay?"

Daniel sighed again and looked away for a moment, before turning back to Jack.

"Jack…I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I guess I shouldn't have been so hard on you about the whole extraction thing."

Jack shrugged a bit, an uncomfortable look on his face. "Well hey, I kinda deserved it. I mean, you were right about a lot of what you said. People could have been injured and all…"

"Yeah, but you were right about what I was doing–wanting to stay and take it myself instead of risking you or any of the villagers getting hurt, I mean. It _was_ the same thing you would have been doing by taking my place. It was the same kind of situation." Daniel sighed, "I knew it, too. That's why I couldn't let you do it."

"Because you didn't want me to get hurt? Because I know I didn't want _you _to suffer any worse."

"Well, of course I didn't want you hurt, but there was just too much risk involved. They could have gotten angry and decided to kill you, or anything. Then where would the rest of us be? You know where this is going, don't you?"

Jack grimaced and stared at his feet. "Yesterday," he said thoughtfully, "I told you it was all right for me to be the only one at risk, but not for you. Yeah, I think I do know where this is going." He fell silent for a moment, then cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Deja vu, anyone? It was, uh, also the same kinda thing I did a few weeks ago, huh?"

That one didn't require any thought. "Uh, yeah," Daniel agreed.

"So…I guess you didn't like me doing it then any more than I wanted you to put yourself in that much danger yesterday…."

Daniel eyed him. "No, I really didn't." And as he watched Jack standing there, shifting uncomfortably on his feet searching for what to say next, he saw that Jack got it.

"You know, I'm really sorry about that…" Jack fumbled.

Daniel found himself just smiling.

Jack looked up. "What?"

Daniel shook his head. "It's okay, Jack. I know you're not good at, you know, this sort of thing. I guess I'm really not either, actually. But I'm sorry too."

Jack smiled back now. "Right. So…leave it at that?"

Daniel nodded once, still smiling a bright smile that was only slightly damped by the discomfort he was still in. How could he help it? Things were going better than they had all week.

Jack grinned back and clapped his hands together. "Okay then. Pizza and hockey at my house when you get out of here?"

"Sure–as long as we don't watch hockey the _whole_ time…"

Jack shrugged. "Reasonable compromise."

"Good," Daniel said, pushing back down in his bed as fatigue took over again.

"Carter and Teal'c been by yet?"

"Yeah, they were here an hour or so ago. Now if you'll excuse me I think I'm going to go back to sleep," Daniel answered tiredly. He would have liked to talk to Jack for a while longer, but his still sore and exhausted body was complaining otherwise.

"All right. I'm going home, then. I'll check back in tomorrow," Jack promised.

"Okay," Daniel answered softly. His eyes had already slipped shut again.

Jack pulled his hands out of his pockets and left. Daniel had gone out like a light, so there was no reason for him to stick around any longer. He came across Fraiser on his way from the infirmary and stopped her.

"Yes, colonel?"

"How's Daniel doing?" he asked.

She smiled. "Very well, actually, considering what he's been through in the past forty-eight hours or so. He'll be good as new in a few days, colonel. Don't worry."

Well, that was good to know. "Okay, good, but how long does he have to stay here? He said another couple of days."

Fraiser nodded. "Yes, that's right."

"Are you sure that's necessary? Because you know I can take him home if he wants to go." Daniel wasn't going to stay cooped up any longer than he had to be, if Jack had anything to say about it.

"I'd rather someone keep an eye on him for the next couple of days at _least_," Fraiser insisted.

Jack sighed in frustration. "Fine, so I'll take him to my house. Come on, doc…"

Fraiser eyed him for a moment or so before sighing. "I'll think about it, colonel. But either way he's not going anywhere tonight. If his condition has improved enough tomorrow afternoon and he wants to leave, we'll talk about it."

Well, it seemed that was as good as he was going to get for now, so Jack nodded in thanks and retreated. One did not mess with an adamant Doctor Janet Fraiser doing her job if they knew what was good for them.

* * *

The next day went well; Daniel seemed much better, wide awake and eager to get out of the infirmary. After much discussion with Fraiser she finally agreed to let Jack take him to his house at the end of the day, with strict instructions Jack was not to leave him alone for extended periods of time in case Daniel had a relapse or any other complication, and Jack was to call Fraiser immediately if anything happened. Even after all of that it was late before the doctor would release him.

"Ready to go?" Jack asked as he approached Daniel's bed, relieved that he was finally able to ask because it meant they would get out of here soon.

Daniel, looking just as relieved, was dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed. "More than ready," he answered, sliding off the bed and setting his feet on the floor. Once he was standing, he grimaced and shifted on his feet for a moment, testing. Seemingly satisfied, he looked up again and started toward Jack–slowly.

"Okay, let's get going then," Jack agreed, putting a hand at his friend's back just in case. Sure enough, Daniel faltered dangerously and Jack took hold of his arms for a moment to hold him up.

"Whoa there, Danny-boy. Take it easy. We're not in a hurry."

Daniel only replied by rolling his eyes, straightening again and trying unsuccessfully to hide the grimace of pain that flickered across his face.

Slowly, they made their way out into the corridor. Fraiser had offered to let them borrow one of the wheelchairs from the infirmary for Daniel to use for another day or two until his muscles recovered more, but of course Daniel wouldn't have it. So while they were tortoise crawling toward the elevator, they ran into Carter and Teal'c, who stopped to talk to them.

"We were just coming to see you," Carter said to Daniel. "We heard you were breaking out today," she grinned.

Daniel smiled back. "Yeah, I'm leaving all right. I wasn't going to stay in the infirmary any longer than I have to. Janet's great and all, but it can get really boring in there."

"Are you well, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.

Daniel gave a small shrug. "I've been better."

Carter hugged him gently, and Daniel returned it. "We're glad you're okay," she said, smiling softly at him as she let go. "Now go get some more rest. I'll bring Teal'c out to the colonel's house tomorrow, okay?"

"You do that, Carter," Jack agreed, grinning. "We'll make a team event out of it."

"Yes sir," Carter replied, giving a mock salute.

With that they parted again, and Jack continued on to the elevator with Daniel. Once inside Daniel moaned quietly and leaned heavily on the wall.

"Daniel?" Jack asked in concern.

Daniel waved him off. "I'm fine, Jack."  
"Still pretty sore, huh?"

"Yeah. Had to make sure Janet would let me go, though."

"Good point."

The elevator fell into an uncomfortable silence until Daniel spoke up again.

"So, what are we going to do about the ruins on P2X-297?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "How did I know you were going to bring _that_ up?" he shook his head. "Anyway, Hammond said we'd give the locals a few months to cool off and then maybe send back a different team."

Daniel nodded. "That makes sense."

"Are you okay with this?"

"With what?"

Jack shrugged. "You know, the whole you can't go back there thing…"

"I guess I have to be," he sighed in answer.

"True."

At the top Jack waited for Daniel before stepping out of the elevator, but Daniel stumbled as he tried to straighten again and Jack had to catch him to keep him from falling.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked again.

"Maybe not," Daniel grimaced.

Jack sighed and looped one of Daniel's arms around his shoulders to support him. "Come on, let's go home," he announced, carefully helping him from the elevator.

"Sorry," Daniel apologized once Jack had helped him into the vehicle.

Jack came around to the driver's side of his truck and climbed in, shutting the door behind him. "It's not your fault, Daniel," he said as he started his truck. "It's mine. You wouldn't have had to go through that at all if I hadn't been so stupid."

"Jack, it's not your fault. You couldn't have known those thorns were on that branch," Daniel protested.

Jack shrugged. "Whatever you say, Daniel."

* * *

Daniel still needed help to get from the truck into Jack's house. Jack was happy to give it to him, and as carefully as he could took Daniel into the house and sat him down on the couch. Daniel grimaced on the way in and made a soft whimpering noise in the back of his throat as he sat. Jack frowned.

"Are you okay?"

Daniel nodded and sat back carefully, leaning into the cushions. "I'm fine, Jack."

"No, you're not."

"Okay, fine, I'm not great right now, but I _will_ be fine; you happy now?" Daniel asked, rolling his eyes.

Jack nodded. "Reasonably," he answered. Then he crossed to one of the armchairs and dropped down into it, sighing. "Home, sweet home."

"Yeah, for the next few days, anyway," Daniel commented, referring to himself.

"Fraiser said you only _had_ to stay for a couple, actually, though you're more than welcome to stay longer, I guess."

"I know, thanks."

The two fell into another lull of silence, and it wasn't any more comfortable than it had been back in the elevator. It was probably less so. Jack was sure that neither of them had forgotten what had happened the last time they'd both sat in this room–in same seats they were sitting in now.

Sure, they had gotten past a major hurdle back in the infirmary the day before, but Jack knew that not everything was quite worked out yet. There was one point in particular hanging over his head, actually, and he knew he should get it out on the table…

Daniel was silent at the moment, so finally Jack sat forward, and dove in. "Daniel–"

"Jack–"

They had spoken at the same time. "Sorry, you go ahead."

"No, it's okay, what were you going to say?" Daniel asked.

Jack hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Well, I know we kind of…figured out a problem yesterday and all, but there's something else you need to know."

Daniel didn't look surprised to hear that at all. "Yeah?"

"Okay, look, I understand where you're coming from on everything, and I'm sure now that you understand where _I'm_ coming from on the issue because I think we're coming from the same place, but I just want to make sure you understand that, well, me understanding that isn't going to _change_ where I'm coming from. Understand?"

Daniel chuckled–probably at how absurd that explanation had sounded, Jack thought. He was corrected when Daniel spoke.

"I understand, Jack," Daniel admitted. "It's what I was going to say, I guess. Neither of us wants anyone else to take _all_ the risk of any situation themselves, but both of us are more than willing to do it ourselves–and I don't think that's going to change for either of us. It's just who we are."

"That's what I said." Though not nearly as well.

Daniel paused a moment before continuing with, "Are you okay with that?"

Jack shrugged. "As long as it doesn't cause problems. Think we can do that?"

"I think we can; I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree sometimes."

"Well, that's a little cliché, but it sounds like a plan," Jack smiled.

Daniel smiled back now, then glanced around. "So–"

Jack glanced down at his watch, a sudden thought popping into his mind. "Oh! We missed the first part of the game!" he exclaimed, popping out of his seat, more than a little relieved that conversation was over and he now had something else to jump right into.

Daniel frowned in confusion. "We what?"

"The game–the hockey game–we missed the first few minutes of it."

"You interrupted me to tell me that we missed part of a hockey game?"

"Oh come on, Daniel, you said 'So–'. You were obviously leading into asking what we were going to do now, so I'm answering you," Jack said, motioning toward the television. "What now? We watch the game now."

"Does it have to be hockey?" Daniel protested.

"Ah ah, that was the deal, remember? Compromise. We take turns," Jack reminded him, wagging a finger at him and smirking good-naturedly.

Daniel sighed. "You're right."

"Thank you." With that, Jack searched out the television remote, found it under the coffee table, and turned the TV on to the correct channel. "And…commercial. Bummer." By the time he had done that and turned around again, Daniel had his shoes off and his legs pulled up so he was lying across the couch facing the screen, with one of the extra cushions supplementing the armrest under his head. His eyelids were already drooping a bit.

"Are you tired?" Jack asked. "If you really want to sleep there's the guest room…"

"No, this is fine," he assured him. "I'm not gonna to sleep; I just need to lie down."

"Okay. I'll get the food," Jack nodded.

"Sounds good…thanks Jack," Daniel said tiredly. Then, right before his eyes, Jack's archaeologist fell asleep.

Jack shook his head and grinned, moving back into the kitchen towards the phone. Tonight he and Daniel would crash in front of the television, eating junk food and watching…well, if Daniel didn't want to watch hockey they'd probably end up watching a movie or the history channel or something.

Then he'd have to do something to make it all up to Carter and Teal'c–everything that had happened the past few weeks. He'd probably get Teal'c some new magazines and maybe take him to a hockey game, and Carter…well, he could figure that out later. And then of course all four members of SG-1 would be here tomorrow for more junk food, useless talk, television, and much-need team bonding.

Today though, only Daniel was here. Soon he would wake up, insisting that he was fine and hadn't meant to fall asleep and probably demanding to know where the food was. Yes, Jack thought, it was time to order that first round of pizzas.


End file.
